The Enhanced

Chapter 7

Klaus was not nearly as useful as Eli or Alex. He was a wreck when the two of them had taken him and now, he was less of one, but still a mess. He had no responsibilities other than to help track down an occasional Enhanced for the Elites and lay low. The lack of obligations got him into a lot of trouble early on, often coming back home drunk and stumbling. Sometimes he'd be bloody or bruised in the morning without any recollection of what had happened.

Eli and Alex never pushed him into doing anything. Eli would give him a piece of her mind if he was causing trouble sometimes, but she never was really angry at him. Alex was softer with him - maybe it was because of an empath or just far nicer than Klaus deserved. On the nights where Klaus came home messed up, Alex would get him cleaned up and tucked into bed, talking to him until he fell asleep. They tried their best to pull Klaus out of that self-destructive cycle without prying. It was nice. They were nice. They'd both deck him if he said it out loud, but they were, each in their own way.

Now on days without tasks Klaus would wander. He'd explore the woods or the city, sometimes find a shop or cafe to get lost in for hours. For a while, that place had been the cafe Aria worked at. He would spend the last few hours of his day with somebody he knew once upon a time and he never minded the silence between them. If anything, it was pleasant.

He wouldn't go there anymore. Part of him mourned the loss.

Instead of staying up to help Eli with any potential disasters with Aria, he'd just laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. He didn't know why he felt as tired as he did, but God, he was fucking exhausted. He slept on and off until light was streaming in through the blinds too bright to let him doze off again.

Klaus figured he was the first one up when he went downstairs, hair still a little damp from his shower.

Aria was sitting in the living room with her knees drawn up to her chest, eyes fixed nothing in particular.

"Morning."

Her gaze found him, but she didn't say anything.

"Want breakfast? I'm going to put on some coffee."

Aria winced as she stood up, trailing after him to the kitchen.

"Maybe you shouldn't walk."

Aria shrugged. "What were you going to make?"

"Uh, pancakes?" Klaus was sure they had the ingredients, but to be fair, he hadn't stepped foot in here to make anything for a little while. He looked at her as she leaned back against the counter, wondering how much pain she might have been in. "You should go sit down. I can do it on my own."

"Let me be useful."

Something about that made him nod despite his concern. "Alright."

The two of them worked without much talk, falling back into that comfortable silence they shared on their nights together.

Klaus liked cooking. He didn't know why, he just did. It gave him something productive to do. Maybe he liked it because it was constant - he used to cook before what happened and he still cooked after. Maybe it was because it made him feel like he could do something right. Or maybe it was because he just really liked eating.

Usually, he did it alone, but he didn't mind doing it with Aria. It was peaceful when he did it on his own and that same tranquility remained when he did it with her, even if she had to ask where certain things were when they were gathering ingredients. When the batter was done, Aria sat down on the floor with sweat beaded on her forehead and sipped away at the glass of water Klaus had given her. He did the rest on his own.

When there were pancakes in front of them and coffee in their hands, Aria peeked up at him from over his mug.

"You're Enhanced."

Klaus raised a brow. "Where'd you hear that?"

They were eating on the floor. Klaus had set their plates there as soon as the pancakes were done. He didn't want Aria to walk again and it didn't look like she wanted to either.

"Alex said you're part of the Elites."

Klaus shoveled a chunk of his pancakes into his mouth and chewed slow to give himself time to answer. "I'm not Enhanced. Not the way you or Eli or Alex are."

There was curiosity written all over her, but she didn't press. She didn't ask Then how? the way he had expected her to. Instead she started on her own breakfast, much more present than she had been when Klaus had first come downstairs.

Aria caught him staring as she scarfed down on pancake after the other and she smiled sheepishly with bulging cheeks. A hand moved up to cover her mouth before she swallowed and said, "Was kind of hungry."

Klaus smiled back. "Me too."

The tranquility instilled in Klaus didn't last long. His cell phone rang when he was sitting out on the porch, contemplating whether or not he would go for a run. He glanced at the caller ID and then proceeded to ignore it.

It rang again.

Klaus paid it no mind and the calls eventually stopped coming. He shut his eyes for a brief moment, knowing this peace would be disrupted soon.

The door swung open behind him and Eli moved to stand in front of him. "When you don't answer them, they call me."

"I'm not listening to a bunch of assholes who don't even want to speak to me a second longer-"

"This was the deal, Klaus. They let you roam free instead of doing who-knows-what to you as long as you do your part."

"Dissect."

"What?"

"They'd probably dissect me."

Eli's shoulders sagged. "Can you get up? You're helping me track today."

Klaus raised a brow. "That's all?"

"No dirty work for you, but there will be plenty for me."

A u t h o r ' s N o t e

You get to see the dirty work next chapter (which will be up on Friday). I'll be editing this for typos and detail tomorrow.

Eid Mubarak!